Salamut Datang Penang

I have a plan to write about my Penang trip that I visited in beginning of this year. Almost 1 year, I just start (how poor I am !!)...same as my story of Japan trip.

Day : 25 Feb 2005

My flight scheduled to leave Thailand around 5.20 PM but it was late till 6 PM. Thanks to AirAsia, our prime minister’s airline -"- Finally, I reached Penang at 9.30 after grabbed my bag, I met Shally and her boyfriend, Kim-Seng, and another lovely couple, Kent & Kelly. I went to hotel “Paradise Sandy Beach” located in Tanjung Bungah for check in first then went to night market along Gurney Drive for dinner.

Paradise Sandy Beach Hotel

Since this is my first meal in Penang, they treat me so well; total 6 dishes of hawker food for supper with 4 main dishes and 2 desserts.

Char Koay Teow :- Fried Noodle

Laksa :- Noodle in tamarind and mackerel soup

Koay Teow Th'ng :- Noodle in clear soup with fish balls

Ais kacang :- Shaved ice with red syrup over red beans, jelly, sweet corn with milk

Cendol :- green pandan flavoured noodles in white coconut milk with brown sugar

Unfortunately, I can't find photo of Rojak to show how delicious it look. Rojak is Fruits and Vegetables Salad mixed in a potent sauce of prawn paste.

Too much for me to eat them all, sorry pals!!

Note: Most of food photos are courtesy of http://new.exoticpenang.com.my/

Day : 26 Feb 2005

Having breakfast with Shally at hotel first them it's time to start explore Penang! Started with the famous beach in Penang, Batu Ferringhi. Along this beach, there are a lot of hotel, from 3 stars to 5 stars hotel. We just made a trip passed these luxury hotels. Then we moved to 2 famous temples located in George Town area (George town is old town area, has a lot of historical buildings). One is Thai temple called Wat Chayamangkalaram opposite one is Myanmar temple called Dhammikarama. You may notice difference of style between two of them.

After that we took a coffee break at Gurney Plaza, waiting for Kent before visited other historical places like Khoo Kongsi, Fort Cornwallis & Seri Rambai (canon), Kuan Yin Teng, St. George's Church around George Town area. Even I had stayed here only 1 day I noticed that Penang has a lot of old buildings, all of them are still in good condition. Look like they're trying to keep old town environment. Quite different from Thailand. Too bad..

I also met CH Choong and her boyfriend at Batu Ferringhi night market. She is very tall and pretty girl :-)

Day : 27 Feb 2005

TS (Tze-Siang) and Shally came to pick me up in the morning then we went to have Dim Sum for breakfast. As they told me, Dim Sum is very popular breakfast for Penang people, so you can notice a lot of Dim Sum restaurants spread over this island.

After charged the energy with Dim Sum we went to Kek Lok Si, very large temple on a hilltop of Air Itam (Air Itam means Black Water). A magnificent point of Kek Lok Si are the 30.2m Kuan Yin Statue and a seven tier pagoda, very impressive. If you visit Kek Lok Si at night during Chinese New Year, you will see unforgettable view, Kek Lok Si is shining. That's too bad for me, the time I visited Penang Chinese New Year already passed.

After lunch, went to 58th floor of Komtar to check view from the top. We can see the mainland, Penang Bridge of course Little India and China Town are included.

Then we had another coffee break at Gloria Jean's in front of E&O hotel. I met famous Lee-Peng here. She is very nice, smart and pretty like other people told me before.

At dinner, Wai-Seng and his friend Shuang came to pick me up for dinner. Both of them are the one who told me about Shining Kek Lok Si. They took me almost all famous places for dine, from George Town area to Air Itam, ended at Bayan Lepas.

Day : 28 Feb 2005

I woke up very early in the morning in order to take "Langkawi Coral" boat to Pulau Paya by my own. Pulau Paya is a marine park between Penang and Langkawi. The water is very clear, however, it can't compare to Thailand. I think Thailand's beaches is more beautiful than here. BUT, the way Thailand and Malaysia conserve the things that mother nature gave to us is totally different. Here, they build a large floating platform to be the boats platform. This will prevent damage to coral reef near the beach. They also built underwater observation chamber on this platform for viewing the reef. I did enjoy the time I spent here a lot. I saw sharks feeding, do snorkelling and viewing reef from glass-bottom boats.

Tonight, I went to Japanese restaurant to had dinner with Lee-Peng, TS, YC, Shally and Kelly.

Day :1 Mar 2005

Last day in Penang, I went to Penang Hill in the morning. It is 821m above George Town. I like the climate up there, cooler than below, as well as the view of this island and mainland. Also went to Penang Bridge, 13.5 km long, it used to be the longest bridge in Asia. We crossed over Penang Bridge to Butterworth and took a ferry back to Penang. After that went to Spansion (Penang). I met a lot of people which I never met before only heard a name like JC Lim, KH Tam, YK Teh, KY Goh, Dartshyni, Hafiz, EL Ang, CL Tham, YM Goh, SW Ng and etc.... also met someone I knew them like CK Tan, Lee-Peng, TS, CH, WS and other EBU members. Finally, it's time for me to leave Penang. I really enjoy this trip. This trip gave me a chance to do the thing that I never did before, travel abroad alone, even it's not the backpack like I plan but it will be a good starting point for my next project. Also gave me a chance to re-charge my battery before continue to work again. Last but not least, gave me an opportunity to visit my old friends.

Thank you very much for all Penang hosts who help me to fulfilled my dream...See you again soon!!